MONEY
Master the Game   by Tony Robbins

The best book on financial freedom ever written (in my opinion)!

Tony Robbins, a self-made multi-millionaire, is explicit in letting the reader know that there is no benefit to him for you using any of his investment ideas, but rather, his goal is to help those who want, to do what only the most wealthy, frugal, focused investors do to cut costs and earn the most. The proceeds from his book are going 100% to destitute poor people in foreign lands to help them develop life skills. The ideas in the book are the best I have ever seen, and I have already implemented many of them! Take the time to review the notes, check out the websites, and move forward with these ideas if it is your desire to maximize the earnings you hope to make for retirement.

• 96% of all mutual funds fail to beat the market for a sustained period of time
• Invest in the index funds, as there are lower fees and better overall return – indexing
• Low cost indexing puts all stocks in one overall box
• There is a commodities index, real estate index, short term bond index, long term bond index and gold index – they bulk these areas together to minimize risk
• The average cost (in your portfolio, fees you don’t see) of owning a mutual fund is 4.17% per year, with 10 different fees they charge! Wow, that takes about ½ of the annual gain it might produce!
• The fee paid to the investment advisor is tax deductible
• Vanguard is one of the lowest cost brokers, and has an entire suite of low-cost index funds
• Go to moneychimp.com/calculator/discount_rate_calculator.htm now and find out the actual growth rate of your investment
• Align yourself with a Fiduciary (independent registered investment advisor, or RIA), not a financial advisor or broker (commission based), and get the “un-commissioned” truth about what to invest in
• Fees paid to fiduciary are tax deductible, but make sure it is a fiduciary and not an advisor in disguise!
• Schwab, Hightower and Stronghold Financial.com all have RIA’s now
• Make sure the advisor is not compensated on trading, or affiliated with a broker-dealer
• The lowest price 401K plan known is America’s Best 401K, at .75%!
• You should consider a ROTH 401K, allowing you to invest up to $17,500 per year, if you believe taxes will rise in the future
• If you have a company 401K program, you are required by law to get it benchmarked each year, available for free at http://americasbest401k.com/request-a-proposal
• Business owners making lots of profits should consider a Cash-Balance Plan on top of their 401K
• Want to avoid future tax rates, consider a lifetime income annuity
• Not happy with your annuity, exchange it using a 1035 exchange feature
• Bank notes are a great guaranteed investment with good upside and zero downside
• Canadian banks tend to have the strongest financials
• Fixed-indexed Annuities are good upside without the downside, tax deferred, paycheck for life
• Stay away from Target Date Funds (TDF’s) as they are volatile and expensive (very high broker commissions mostly)
• Develop a Financial Freedom Plan – determine the amount of income you need to retire. Ask your CPA for help.
• A great investment is a senior housing real estate investment trust
• Prepay your next months principal on your mortgage, and then pay it like that for the duration, and you could pay off a 30 year mortgage in 15 years
• Next, cut your continuing mortgage payments in half, and make payments every two weeks
• Give up bottled water and getting coffee daily, and invest that money, and secure $503,605 over 40 years!
• Brainstorm about all the recurring expenditures that you could eliminate or reduce to cut your expenses, and invest that money monthly
• Write down three expenditures you will resolve to eliminate now
• Learn to work harder on improving yourself than you do on your job
• Make sure to hold your investments a minimum of a year and a day in order to qualify for the lower long-term capital gains rate
• Look into REIT’s (Real Estate Investment Trusts) for real estate investment opportunities
• Do detailed asset allocation for diversification of your portfolio. Many examples of this in the book
• Keep money safe, liquid and earning interest in a US Treasury money market fund with checking privileges
• Do a Market Linked CD that grows with the market, but doesn’t lose with it
• Disadvantage of bonds is early withdrawal, but they are generally safer than the market
• Do a structured note with a bank for better rate than a savings account
• Do a full portfolio review at strongholdfinancial.com
• Ultimate diversification tool for individual investors is a low-fee index fund, limited to up to 5% of your portfolio or total assets.
• Find out your risk tolerance for investing at http://njaes.rutgers.edu/money/riskquiz
• Secret to wealth is gratitude, its what we appreciate.
• Diversify across asset classes and across markets, and across time – continually add to investment over time
• Rebalance your portfolio only once per year, not constantly
• Stocks are 3 times more risky then bonds
• A good portfolio for growth – 30% stocks like Indexes, 15% LT Treasuries, 40% in LT Intermediate US Bonds, 7.5% Gold, 7.5% Commodities.
• Pay less taxes by buying within IRA/401K’s, or Low cost Variable Annuities
• Create your own personal plan for investing at strongholdfinancial.com
• Hybrid Indexed Annuities give you benefit of indexed annuities with lifetime income rider – paycheck for life
• Avoid Variable Annuities
• Fixed Deferred Annuity grows tax deferred, no annual fees, and decent return, income for life, cannot lose the principal, Gains with no losses, gains locked in each year,
• Go to lifetimeincome.com to select the right annuity for you
• Private Placement Life Insurance can shelter your market earnings and you get the income, the heirs get income, and can draw from a few tax free
• Create a Living Revocable Trust to protect your assets, avoid probate. Create for free at http://getyourshittogether.org
• Vanguard and TIAA-CREF both operate as Non-profits, and offer you fiduciaries
• Invest in 6 areas – US Stocks, US Treasury Bonds, US Treasury Inflation Protected Securites (TIPS), Foreign developed equities, foreign emerging-market equities, and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
• 10% in emerging markets, 15% in foreign development, 15% in REITs, 30% US Stocks, 30% fixed Income securities – Treasury securities like traditional bonds and inflation protected TIPS